Escape to the Movies: Les Miserables
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THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU Bob for saying this. Nothing drives me more bonkers than people going nuts over something poorly done out of a misplaced sense of culture.
Les Mis is one of the greatest books ever written. There's no arguing that. I think most people like this movie because they feel like they're "supposed" to like it given how awesome the stage show is. Thing is, "good" and "bad" pieces of work not not subjective. There are measurable standards for how good or bad something is. Les Mis is just a bad film. It had bad directing, bad sound design, bad pacing, bad writing. If you really liked it, then good for you. You didn't waste your money like I did. But the film I saw looked and sounded like it was made by kids in their backyard.
Les Mis is one of the greatest books ever written. There's no arguing that. I think most people like this movie because they feel like they're "supposed" to like it given how awesome the stage show is. Thing is, "good" and "bad" pieces of work not not subjective. There are measurable standards for how good or bad something is. Les Mis is just a bad film. It had bad directing, bad sound design, bad pacing, bad writing. If you really liked it, then good for you. You didn't waste your money like I did. But the film I saw looked and sounded like it was made by kids in their backyard.
I was biased from the beginning because I really enjoyed the book. It's not good in any traditional sense, but it's incredibly emotional and inspiring. If you had told me at the time I had read it someone was going to adapt it into a film I probably wouldn't be very excited because the book really doesn't have a cinematic feel. It generally draws empathy for the characters by giving you a 10 page tragic biography of their families so you can get an idea of what being lower class in the 17th century was like. If you had told me they were making a musical out of it, I'd have thought you'd gone insane (at the time I hadn't heard of the acclaimed musical). Now that someone has come out and said that the musical film adaptation's characters are flat, the story has terrible pacing and it doesn't give you any reason to give a shit about anything that happens, I'm not surprised.
I think the character of Marius is very complex and hard to capture in the segment he's allowed on a film adaptation. He's an unlikeable shithead and the only goodwill he has is that his father had a tragic backstory and loved him dearly, he seems to have some balls at the beginning but immediately pisses it all away and reveals himself to be an insufferable, angsty teenager with a death wish and no drive. Jean saving Marius is an interesting moment given that he practically fucks himself over for his daughter's happiness and you can see it from a mile off. There are really no characters in Les Miserables that aren't fascinating but as should be obvious it takes 700 pages and hundreds of tiny vignettes to reveal why that is.
I think the character of Marius is very complex and hard to capture in the segment he's allowed on a film adaptation. He's an unlikeable shithead and the only goodwill he has is that his father had a tragic backstory and loved him dearly, he seems to have some balls at the beginning but immediately pisses it all away and reveals himself to be an insufferable, angsty teenager with a death wish and no drive. Jean saving Marius is an interesting moment given that he practically fucks himself over for his daughter's happiness and you can see it from a mile off. There are really no characters in Les Miserables that aren't fascinating but as should be obvious it takes 700 pages and hundreds of tiny vignettes to reveal why that is.
Accent really seeping into this video, not that that's a bad thing exactly.
This sounds very similar to what my sister was saying about the movie, although more precise on they whys.
This sounds very similar to what my sister was saying about the movie, although more precise on they whys.
I don't know why this review is occurring.... this movie was number three on his ten most hated movies of the year. I think that is review enough. His reasoning is kind of irrelevant. Comparing it to the book is also irrelevant as the movie is clearly aimed at the crowd who liked and are into watching, musical theatre. It seems to me that Bob probably does not like musical theatre, which is 100% Ok, but then it kind of skews what he may have to say about a movie adapted from the musical theatre version of the story.
But if people only reviewed films they liked reviews would be pointless. It's like that time that reviewer who famously loathed superhero movies said Captain America was pretty great, that let people know it was a damn good film. If it wasn't for reviewers like him, we would never find out how to improve superhero films because we'd just get unoriginal feedback from people who have no interest in seeing superhero movies transcend their self-imposed limitations. If we don't get people who aren't interested in musical films critisize musical films, we'll never figure out how to make musical films not suck.Baresark said:
I can't write this with enough emphasis: this is a very powerful musical. It is filmed well enough and I'd love to do whatever reasonable to help it be a success.
I took my wife to see it. I thought she might be bored. Instead, she sobbed through the whole thing.
It was a very different movie experience and when I left, I was happy, emotionally drained and satisfied all at the same time.
And Kudos to Russel Crowe. You da man! I thought it took balls for him to sing in a musical and he surprised me. He was fine.
I took my wife to see it. I thought she might be bored. Instead, she sobbed through the whole thing.
It was a very different movie experience and when I left, I was happy, emotionally drained and satisfied all at the same time.
And Kudos to Russel Crowe. You da man! I thought it took balls for him to sing in a musical and he surprised me. He was fine.
That whole concert, gods that is fantastic music. I wish I had found this video before! I love it! Thank you good sir!saintdane05 said:
It's a shame the film is bad, I really wanted to see it. No doubt I still will go and see it, but if it's so bad it brings Movie Bob's accent out I wouldn't want to waste money D: but I love musicals so much, so I will probably end up liking it by the end.
IT actually is quite a good movie. You just need abit a patience. And be able to listen to Russel Crowe sing.Padwolf said:That whole concert, gods that is fantastic music. I wish I had found this video before! I love it! Thank you good sir!saintdane05 said:
It's a shame the film is bad, I really wanted to see it. No doubt I still will go and see it, but if it's so bad it brings Movie Bob's accent out I wouldn't want to waste money D: but I love musicals so much, so I will probably end up liking it by the end.
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I'm fine with him reviewing it. I just don't think it's necessary because everyone already knows his feelings on the movie. And I don't think musicals are really the same situation as other movies (especially Les Mis as it has zero spoken lines unlike a lot of other musical films). No one is going to argue better direction is not warranted. And I wasn't a huge fan of so many shots that were just zoomed in on peoples faces (makes for a boring movie).JudgeGame said:
The movie was aimed at people who enjoy the story as conveyed through the music. In that sense, it was really good. The vast majority of the singing was very well performed. Crowe as Javert was not for everyone, admittedly. But my girlfriend, who is a superb singer and has been singing for most of her 24 years of life, really enjoyed his performance. I almost feel like his performance is only going to be appreciated by people who know singing like some bands produce music that is only really appreciated by other musicians. And Oscar bait or not, Anne Hathaway blew away that part like it was nobodies business. That is one of the few times I felt that zoom in on the face was warranted.
The film wasn't great but at the same time I can't help but think that no matter how good the directing or camera work was, people who don't like musicals aren't going to like it. I have to be honest, the beginning scene where they were pulling that ship was about 100 times cooler than any stage production of the musical has ever been. And no one seemed to pick up on the actor/singer playing The Bishop of Digne was the original Valjean in the very first London production of the show, which was a nice wink to the original musical production.
I'm not trying to sit here and say it was perfect or revolutionary. It certainly wasn't the be all end all of movies or musicals. But, does it deserve to be on the top 10 worst movies with a followup of exactly what is wrong with it, I'm of the opinion not. Once again, my opinion is different, which is fine. I respect his opinion and the opinion of anyone who didn't enjoy it, but to talk about it instead of just moving on, it just doesn't make sense.
Meh, it's cool though, what's done is done. More than likely he had this a few weeks in advance and had put it up if for no other reason than he is expected to have a movie review ready every Friday. It's not like the theatre's are overflowing with review fodder at this point.
Edit: I didn't say this and I very much meant to. While my girlfriend and I enjoyed Crowe's performance enough, we do both feel he is the weakest link still and not comparable to actual stage productions of Les Mis. Also, I personally feel the romance in the third act between Cosette and Marius is just annoying. They are the most god awful boring characters, their parts are uninspired and, as a personal scathing critique on the musical production in general: They are meant to give more character to Valjean, but all it does is pull you away from much more interesting characters to do it.
I thought Javert was Jean's foil. One follows the law of the state even if it means doing wrong, while the other does what is right regardless of the law. I guess I can see what you're saying, though. Nice use of accents.iniudan said:
I honestly think you will enjoy it. The problematic directing aside, the show was honestly pretty great, in my opinion. Not perfect but you will have wow moments as far as the production is concerned. This is a very divisive movie though, it seems you either like it or hate with little middle ground to be had. And don't let anyone fool you, Crowe's performance, while far from the best the show has ever seen, isn't as bad as it's made out to be. Don't go in expecting to be blown away by all the performances, but some of them will blow you away. Others you will be disappointed in, but they aren't as bad as they are made out to be. But if you don't, there is always rental when it comes out on DVD.Padwolf said:That whole concert, gods that is fantastic music. I wish I had found this video before! I love it! Thank you good sir!saintdane05 said:
It's a shame the film is bad, I really wanted to see it. No doubt I still will go and see it, but if it's so bad it brings Movie Bob's accent out I wouldn't want to waste money D: but I love musicals so much, so I will probably end up liking it by the end.
Out of those three, only the last is a legitimate complaint. The first one is complaining that the movie is true to its source material. The second... the scene was written for a medium that does not get Oscars(live stage performance) and based on a book that predates the Oscars. Complaining that the scene is Oscar bait is like complaining that The Lord of the Rings felt like a generic D&D adventure.Random Argument Man said:
When I first heard about Les Mis' coming to the big screen I was initially apprehensive. I love the concert, which I saw many years ago. The music was moving and the terrific. My thoughts were brought to The Phantom of the Opera, also great on the stage or (mp3) but a terrible terrible movie. I looked on the wiki entry about the details of Les Mis' and my heart sank further. The casting isn't great (I mean really, Russel Crow in a musical... no). And I started to see what this movie was, the timing of the year... it was an Oscar grab.
Colour me unsurprised by this review. When I looked on rottentomatoes it got many popular reviews, but they weren't for the cast or the fact it was a movie.
Colour me unsurprised by this review. When I looked on rottentomatoes it got many popular reviews, but they weren't for the cast or the fact it was a movie.